Mechanism-guided drug development and treatment for liver fibrosis: a clinical perspective
Liver fibrosis is a common response to chronic liver injury due to multiple etiologies and plays a crucial in the progression of chronic liver disease to cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma, and other liver-related clinical outcomes. Currently, available treatments to block liver fibrosis are design...
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| Format: | Article |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2025-05-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Pharmacology |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphar.2025.1574385/full |
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| author | Xiangchang Zeng Deliang Huang Zhibin Zhu Qingxian Cai Yang Yang Hongzhou Lu Jun Chen |
| author_facet | Xiangchang Zeng Deliang Huang Zhibin Zhu Qingxian Cai Yang Yang Hongzhou Lu Jun Chen |
| author_sort | Xiangchang Zeng |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Liver fibrosis is a common response to chronic liver injury due to multiple etiologies and plays a crucial in the progression of chronic liver disease to cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma, and other liver-related clinical outcomes. Currently, available treatments to block liver fibrosis are designed to eliminate the underlying causes of liver disease. The lack of truly effective drugs to regress or reverse fibrosis is a major unmet clinical need. In this context, this article briefly describes the pathological process of hepatic fibrosis and focuses on reviewing the progress of clinical studies on mechanism-based anti-fibrotic drug development and therapy, highlighting that the positive effect of thyroid hormone receptor-β (THR-β) analogs, fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21) analogues, Glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor (GLP-1R) agonists, pan-peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (pan-PPAR) agonists, fatty acid synthase (FASN) inhibitors, and hydronidone in reducing liver fibrosis caused by specific etiologies. Moreover, multi-pathway guided combination therapy or traditional Chinese medicine demonstrate significant advantages in combating liver fibrosis. Finally, new technologies and approaches affecting the clinical development of anti-hepatic fibrosis drugs were discussed. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-6f43ffa35c224878b450d4134c4b898a |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1663-9812 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-05-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Pharmacology |
| spelling | doaj-art-6f43ffa35c224878b450d4134c4b898a2025-08-20T03:48:23ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Pharmacology1663-98122025-05-011610.3389/fphar.2025.15743851574385Mechanism-guided drug development and treatment for liver fibrosis: a clinical perspectiveXiangchang Zeng0Deliang Huang1Zhibin Zhu2Qingxian Cai3Yang Yang4Hongzhou Lu5Jun Chen6Department of Liver Diseases, Shenzhen Third People's Hospital, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, Guangdong, ChinaDepartment of Liver Diseases, Shenzhen Third People's Hospital, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, Guangdong, ChinaDepartment of Liver Diseases, Shenzhen Third People's Hospital, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, Guangdong, ChinaDepartment of Liver Diseases, Shenzhen Third People's Hospital, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, Guangdong, ChinaShenzhen Key Laboratory of Pathogen and Immunity, Shenzhen Clinical Research Center for Infectious Disease, State Key Discipline of Infectious Disease, Shenzhen Third People's Hospital, The Second Hospital Affiliated to Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, Guangdong, ChinaDepartment of Liver Diseases, Shenzhen Third People's Hospital, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, Guangdong, ChinaDepartment of Liver Diseases, Shenzhen Third People's Hospital, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, Guangdong, ChinaLiver fibrosis is a common response to chronic liver injury due to multiple etiologies and plays a crucial in the progression of chronic liver disease to cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma, and other liver-related clinical outcomes. Currently, available treatments to block liver fibrosis are designed to eliminate the underlying causes of liver disease. The lack of truly effective drugs to regress or reverse fibrosis is a major unmet clinical need. In this context, this article briefly describes the pathological process of hepatic fibrosis and focuses on reviewing the progress of clinical studies on mechanism-based anti-fibrotic drug development and therapy, highlighting that the positive effect of thyroid hormone receptor-β (THR-β) analogs, fibroblast growth factor 21 (FGF21) analogues, Glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor (GLP-1R) agonists, pan-peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (pan-PPAR) agonists, fatty acid synthase (FASN) inhibitors, and hydronidone in reducing liver fibrosis caused by specific etiologies. Moreover, multi-pathway guided combination therapy or traditional Chinese medicine demonstrate significant advantages in combating liver fibrosis. Finally, new technologies and approaches affecting the clinical development of anti-hepatic fibrosis drugs were discussed.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphar.2025.1574385/fullliver fibrosispathogenesisanti-fibrotic drugmechanism-guided drug development and treatmentclinical study |
| spellingShingle | Xiangchang Zeng Deliang Huang Zhibin Zhu Qingxian Cai Yang Yang Hongzhou Lu Jun Chen Mechanism-guided drug development and treatment for liver fibrosis: a clinical perspective Frontiers in Pharmacology liver fibrosis pathogenesis anti-fibrotic drug mechanism-guided drug development and treatment clinical study |
| title | Mechanism-guided drug development and treatment for liver fibrosis: a clinical perspective |
| title_full | Mechanism-guided drug development and treatment for liver fibrosis: a clinical perspective |
| title_fullStr | Mechanism-guided drug development and treatment for liver fibrosis: a clinical perspective |
| title_full_unstemmed | Mechanism-guided drug development and treatment for liver fibrosis: a clinical perspective |
| title_short | Mechanism-guided drug development and treatment for liver fibrosis: a clinical perspective |
| title_sort | mechanism guided drug development and treatment for liver fibrosis a clinical perspective |
| topic | liver fibrosis pathogenesis anti-fibrotic drug mechanism-guided drug development and treatment clinical study |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fphar.2025.1574385/full |
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